Scatter the Remains
by v i g g o
Summary: MWPP. Remus Lupin discovers something raw and true beneath Severus' icy surface in their 7th year. Yet all is not well as darker forces arise and the truth slowly reveals itself.
1. Chapter One

A/N: I claim no ownership whatsoever over any characters or places mentioned in this story. The plot is original. Reviews are taken seriously, as well as criticism.

Scatter the Remains

Chapter One

The shadows of the roaring fire's dance flickered before Sirius Black's cold, silent face. The 7th year was stretched languidly across one of Gryffindor's several fireside chairs, staring intensely into nothingness. The chime of a grandfather clock told him dimly that it was eleven at night. Already many students in the common were dispersing, saying good night to their friends before climbing the stairs up to their dormitories.

"Night, Lily," Sirius heard his best friend, James, say quietly to his girlfriend. He watched the two of them from the corner of his eye.

James Potter was a tall and slight boy with friendly hazel eyes, a charming smile and black hair that always stuck up in the back. He was extremely well known for his extraordinary Quidditch skills, and when he walked down the halls, people looked at him admiringly and whispered amongst themselves that this was James Potter, undoubtedly one of the best Seekers _ever_ to play in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch teams.

Although James wasn't a natural genius nor extremely book smart, he was clever, quick-witted, and a hard worker. He was a favorite amongst teachers for his politeness, but behind that dashing grin, James also had an unfortunate attraction for making trouble - often with Sirius. Usually, though, he could talk or charm his way out of the stickiest situations. And for that reason, his Head Boy badge gleamed brightly, pinned to his robes, matching the one that Lily wore also.

Lily Evans was beautiful. Not stunningly gorgeous like Sirius was, not cute like Judith Bones, just beautiful in her own serene and natural way. She had long flowing red hair, pale skin and large sparkling green eyes. When she smiled, and she did so frequently, it was almost a reflex to smile back.

At the moment, James was holding Lily's hand and as he bent down to gently kiss her cheek, he murmured a few words that made Lily smile. She cast one last lovesick glance at James before heading up to bed.

"Padfoot?" James called after Lily had left. Sirius returned to gazing into the fire, pretending he hadn't witnessed the whole scene.

"Yeah, Prongs?"

"Shouldn't we head up?" James said as he plopped down in another chair facing Sirius'. By now, there were only two other Gryffindors in the common - Frank Longbottom, scribbling madly at his Transfiguration essay, and a third year who was desperately trying to cram some complicated spells, probably for some test tomorrow.

"Nah, I'm waiting for Remus," Sirius replied, casually brushing his silky bangs from his face.

James frowned. "Where is he, anyway? Tutoring Peter?"

"Yeah. That psycho."

Over the past few weeks, Peter Pettigrew's grades had been declining dramatically. He seemed distracted all of the time, fearful, pathetic and extremely out of character. Sirius and Peter were probably the most distant of their group, but Sirius had always put up fairly well with Peter's dull-wittedness. Yet recently, he'd become increasingly annoyed every day as Peter continually whispered for help in classes, thus distracting Sirius and preventing him from understanding anything either. Finally, in an attempt to prevent Sirius from breaking Peter's neck, Remus Lupin had offered to privately tutor Peter.

Tonight, they were in the library, probably pouring over books together. Sirius felt slightly ashamed and angry - he'd been banned from the library for a whole month because he'd hexed Snape there after Snape had called him a 'good for nothing poster boy'.

"You know, Padfoot, hexing Snape wasn't worth it," James spoke suddenly, as if he had read Sirius' mind. "Madam Pince hold grudges, and she's pretty sour to the people she dislikes."

"Shut it, James. I don't want to talk about that," Sirius snapped.

"Snape's a git, but nothing is going to change that," James continued. "He hasn't got anything - no family, no friends. Well, I suppose he's got his Slytherin friends, but half of them are all death eaters anyway. I mean, the poor guy is all alone except for his books. Maybe we should give him a break."

Sirius stared at his best friend incredulously for a minute. Then he started to laugh. Normally, when Sirius Black found something funny (and he could usually find anything and everything funny), his laugh was extremely pleasant and attractive. But not this time - he sounded sarcastic, derisive, almost cruel.

Frank Longbottom looked up for a second, surprised, but bent his head back down to finish his essay.

"Listen to yourself, Prongs. Since when have _you_ started to defend Snape? Since when have you two become best friends? Has he asked you to borrow some shampoo yet?" sneered Sirius. "Listen to me. Snape is _not_ a good person. He's evil and twisted and if he had the choice, I'm positive he'd kill you without batting an eye. He's a rotten _Slytherin_, for heaven's sakes! You know, in the same league as Voldemort."

"Well how would _you_ know?" James shot back, clearly vexed. "All you've ever done is insult him and humiliate him. It's not like he has dozens of girls chasing after him. It's not like the teachers love him. It's not like he's had the choice of running away from everything, Sirius!"

At this, Sirius Black rose abruptly from his chair. James stood up also, unafraid. Facing each other, Sirius was the taller one. James and Sirius' steely eyes were locked in what would seem like a very furious glaring contest to a passerby. Both right fists were clenched tightly around their wands.

A muscle twitched in Sirius' jaw.

"Fine, then!" he spat, resolving not to pound on James' face at the last second. "Go ahead and frolic with Snape, will you? Go and mutter incantations with him. Go and join leagues with Voldemort with him, he's such a wonderful friend of yours. See if I care." And with that, he walked stiffly off toward his dorm, completely abandoning the thought of waiting for Remus.

"Coward," James muttered under his breath. He covered up a yawn and desperately yearned to get some sleep, but that would mean following Sirius into the dormitory - and James wasn't about to do that anytime soon. Instead, he fought down another yawn and climbed out of the portrait hole to see what Remus and Peter were up to.

:::

Ten minutes later, James found his two friends seated at a library table covered in textbooks, parchments and notes. Peter had apparently fallen asleep, as he was snoring soundly, head on the table. Beside him sat a very tired-looking Remus, who was currently engaged in some huge textbook that James imagined he would probably never have the patience to read.

"Hey," James said quietly, taking a seat.

Remus looked up and closed his book when he saw James.

"You should be asleep," was the first thing he said.

"As should you," James replied. Taking a closer look at Remus, he couldn't help but feel a little panicky.

As usual, Remus Lupin was dressed rather shabbily. His clothes were clean and unwrinkled due to Remus' neat freak personality, but they were well worn and fading in color. It was only the second month of term, and already his robes were a good three inches too short. James desperately wanted to buy him new ones, or do something - anything - but he knew Remus would be embarrassed and annoyed that James had spent money on something he didn't need. Remus was very different from other teenagers in that sense - he didn't care the slightest about his appearance.

"Besides, everybody knows that Sirius is the stud," Remus always laughed. "He does enough primpin' for the both of us."

But it was a real shame Remus didn't care. His soft, auburn hair was always in need of cutting and gracefully fell into his eyes. He had deep, honey-colored eyes that focused straight on you when he talked, a lilting voice that could've coaxed stone to tears and an altogether warm presence that made him somebody to trust, to confide in.

But despite his kindness, Remus was withdrawn around strangers and people just usually regarded him as the quiet one of the Marauders, the braniac who never quite measured up to James and Sirius' coolness or popularity.

Maybe Remus' antisocial personality was partially because of his being a werewolf. James, Sirius and Peter had discovered this bit about their friend after two years of pondering why he always disappeared once a month. Remus had been terrified of their reaction, but to his surprise, his three friends had put in the effort to join him at the full moon in animal form. After three long of years of hard work, they could transform into Animagi form. Sirius was Padfoot, a handsome, ferocious black dog, strongest of the three. Peter was Wormtail, a rather dull grey rat. And James, James became Prongs, a magnificent stag. The four Marauders usually referred to each other by their Animagi names. Remus became 'Moony', named for his state during the full moon - an uncontrollable and fierce wolf.

However healthy Remus was as a regular person, the monthly transformations always used up a lot of his energy. As a result, Remus usually always looked ill and exhausted. Dark circles hung under his eyes, his cheeks were hollow from his usual lack of appetite, and his skin was so pallid he looked liked some sort of friendly vampire.

"...he fell asleep out of nowhere, the third time already, and I didn't have the heart to wake him up. So I decided to camp out here tonight and do some reading and then you showed up. Are you listening to me? James? Prongs?" Remus waved his fingers in front of James' blank face.

"What? Oh, yeah, er, I'm listening," James lied.

Remus smiled, showing extra sharp canine teeth. "Sure you were. What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Lying is an immoral thing to do, Prongs."

James could see that he wasn't going to fool Lupin. He never did.

"I had a row with Sirius." James confessed. He immediately felt a lot better after saying this.

Remus frowned. "What for?"

"Snape. I defended him...and our sweet-tempered friend got a little annoyed," said James. "Well, actually, I think he was about to punch me for an instant, he was white and shaking like mad. You know Sirius."

"Snape's not so bad," Remus said, sounding distant. "Sirius should acknowledge that."

"Yeah, he should," James sighed. "Hey, who knows, maybe they'll be partners for the upcoming Potions project. That should teach them to get along."

"They'd probably pour the stuff in each other's goblets and both end up dead," Remus grinned.

Peter Pettigrew chose this moment to promptly wake up. He blinked, eyes adjusting to the light. He looked confused for a moment, before noticing James and Remus.

"Morning, Peter," James said cheerily.

"Oh, wow, I must've fallen asleep again," Peter whispered, flushing red.

"Don't worry about it, it was only for a few seconds," Remus immediately jumped to the rescue before Peter could turn even redder with shame. Actually, it'd been a good hour, but he wasn't about to tell Peter that. "I was about to crash myself. I think it's about time we called it a night and all get some shut-eye."

Peter nodded in relief. For the millionth time, James wondered how Remus could possibly be so nice to someone. He helped them clean up and put some library books back on the shelves. The three boys then exited the library (Madam Pince said a fond farewell to Remus - he was by far her most favorite student in Hogwarts, though Remus always denied it with pink cheeks).

They entered the common room, which was now empty, and climbed up to their rooms. Stepping inside, James' eyes immediately flew to Sirius' bed, but Sirius had drawn the curtains and couldn't be seen. Silently, each person changed into their nightclothes, slipped under the bedcovers and said goodnight.

A few minutes later, when Peter's snores already rang loudly, Sirius Black lay staring at the ceiling.

"Snape's a filthy bastard and for once, I'm right about this," he whispered to himself stubbornly.

Remus was the only one who heard this, but he never ever spoke of it in his years to come.

:::


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The next morning, at the breakfast table, Sirius and James did not speak one word to each other. Remus and Peter sat between them, both feeling very awkward. James had Lily on one side of him, so he spent the meal talking with her instead of his friends. Following James' example, Sirius had started conversing with a very pretty 6th year. The girl giggled a lot and twirled her hair. She looked like she was in heaven, talking with possibly the most popular guy in the whole of Hogwarts.

And she had a good reason to be happy, Remus thought to himself. Sirius was an exceptionally good-looking person. He had long, sleek hair, ravishing azure eyes and a delicately chiseled face. His laugh was charming and infectious, but in an almost twisted, seducing way. Despite his advantageous looks, Sirius rarely ever talked to girls, proclaiming that they were "too much of a hassle to deal with". But everyone in Hogwarts knew that whether he wanted it or not, gorgeous, popular Sirius Black was a magnet to the majority of the female population.

Remus sat in silence throughout all of breakfast. He didn't even look up during the arrival of mail, when a couple hundred owls all burst in the Great Hall with packages and letters tightly clamped in their beaks. Nobody ever sent him anything.

It wasn't until their final class of the day that Remus actually became active. And that occurred when Professor Perby, their strict and thin-lipped Potions teacher, announced the partners for the upcoming huge project.

"Your task, students, is to come up with a new type of complex potion. I will be instructing each pair on what is required, and no two groups will have the same objective. Therefore, there will be no copying," he added sternly.

Remus heard Sirius mutter a very foul word under his breath.

"The project will not be a small one. I advise each and every one of you to work hard on your potion, as it will be tested carefully toward the end. Also, you and your partner will be handing in an essay at the end describing your specified potion, its uses, what it's made of and things of that nature."

"Here are the groups. Merlyn, you shall be working with Sue. Lily, you're with Vicky. James, you'll be working with Frank. Christoph and Muriella. Sirius and Peter, I expect no slacking off from you two. Jack, your partner is Pricilla..."

The list went on and on. Remus closed his eyes and yawned drowsily. The lack of sleep from last night had finally caught up with him.

"...and finally, Severus and Remus shall be working together. There is no written homework, but I do expect you all to be ready to work with your partner next time we meet. Remember, this counts as more than 80% of your semester grade. Class dismissed."

The silence in the dungeons erupted into chatter as 50 students rushed out to enjoy their 45-minute break before dinner. Only Remus remained in his seat - temporarily shocked for the moment - until he realized he was the last student in the room. Snapping to reality, he hurriedly stuffed his quill and ink in his bag and walked out of the cold dungeon. He did not see Snape anywhere.

Remus couldn't believe his horrible luck. Over the next three months or so, he'd be spending every waking moment with Severus Snape! He groaned outloud. He did not hate Snape with a passion like Sirius did, but this wasn't exactly his idea of fun, either. Snape had accused Remus of trying to kill him that night exactly one year ago when Sirius told him to go to the Shrieking Shack while Remus was in werewolf form. From that horrible evening on, the Slytherin always had a nasty sneer on whenever he passed Remus and probably still hated him as much ever.

"And I thought _my_ partner was bad," Sirius said to Remus, who had held back to wait for him at the end of the hall.

Remus sighed. "This is going to be one heck of a semester. Snape hates me, you hate Snape, and I'm stuck with both of you."

"Well, I wouldn't hate him if he weren't such a nosy dunce," Sirius said angrily.

"And he wouldn't hate me if you hadn't sent him to me," Remus added under his breath.

"That was a freaking _year_ ago, Moony. Does he still think you're going to bite him any chance you get?" Sirius snorted.

"I don't know, he ignores me most of the time."

"Ah, well, if you ever need someone to set him on fire or something, you know who to talk to. I'm going back to the common, barely got any sleep last night. See ya at dinner," Sirius parted with Remus at the entrance of the Great Hall. As usual, Remus turned to go outside where he'd meet James and Peter, perhaps play some Quidditch. But today, he really didn't feel like it. It was too chilly outside, too social. He wanted to be alone. Instinctively, he turned on his heel and found himself at the library.

"Good evening, Madam Pince," he said politely to the librarian as he entered. She smiled at him, her face shining with approval as Remus set his books down and took out a long roll of parchment to complete the rest of his Charms paper. He worked hard for the better half an hour, then sighed, satisfied, as he placed the finishing period and dropped his quill, massaging his tired fingers.

At the same instance, Remus looked up just in time to see Snape walk through the doors of the library. With his long cloak, white skin and midnight hair, Snape looked like some sort of bat on legs. His dark, glaring eyes scanned the place, looking for a table to work at. His eyes stopped at where Remus was sitting. Remus was suddenly aware that he was sitting alone, and that there was more than enough room for another person...

Remus smiled weakly at Snape, hoping that the moment would be over with soon and that Snape would sit beside him, thus saving a lot of awkwardness the next Potions class. Yet another side inside him screamed for Snape to leave as soon as possible.

Fortunately for Remus, the moment did end soon. Snape looked at him with pure and utter contempt for one moment, then turned on his heel and walked briskly out of the library with a swish of his black cloak. Madam Pince glanced, puzzled, at Remus, but he only shrugged back.

Remus sighed and started to reread his essay, yet he could not shake off the small waves of pain and humiliation that washed over him. He wasn't even good enough to share a table with Snape.

****

:::

"Hey, Moony," Peter Pettigrew said as he slipped beside Remus at dinner.

"Hi," the young man replied rather unenthusiastically.

"I'm really sorry you're going to be working with Snape," Peter said, truly sounding sympathetic.

Remus grimaced. "It's not so bad. We'll just finish it quickly and get it over with."

"But then there's the final essay you two will have to write together. And the presentation, that's gonna be a big deal..." James pointed out. Sirius, whom was to the right of Remus, pretended not to have heard James, but Remus knew he was interested in their conversation by the sly glances he kept shooting in their direction.

"Well, you won't have any trouble, Moony," Peter tried his best to make Remus feel better. "You and Snape are probably the best students anyway, together your potion will be done in a few weeks."

James nodded thoughtfully as he chewed slowly on a piece of breadstick.

"Peter's right," he said simply after swallowing. "You'll be fine."

****

:::

Later that night, when Remus lay in bed, he repeated to himself the encouraging words of support that all his friends had offered him. But for some blasted reason, all he could recall was the look of hatred on Snape's face when he'd seen Remus in the library. Finally, after an hour or so of tossing and turning, Remus Lupin settled into an uncomfortable, troubled sleep. He dreamt of dark rooms and blood that night.

****

:::

The weekend passed quietly and rapidly. Remus spent most of his time between helping Peter with his multiple essays and finishing his own. Sirius and James had started to speak again, though rather stiffly. But Remus needn't worry about that - James and Sirius had been best friends since First Year, and they would continue to be friends until the end of time. 

When Remus awoke on Monday morning, a horrible feeling rolled around in his stomach. He would be having Potions that evening, whether he liked it or not.

Remus walked about dreading Potions the entire day. It was just this annoying and nagging feeling in the back of his mind that never let him alone. During breakfast and lunch, he carefully shielded his eyes from the Slytherin table. He looked down whenever he saw Severus Snape in the halls. He knew it was stupid to act so cowardly, but he couldn't help it.

At last, when the time came, he walked into Professor Perby's classroom with a tight grimace on his face. Severus Snape was already there, glowering from beneath his long black hair. Seeing as everybody sat by their assigned partner, Remus slid into the desk beside Snape's. His partner did not say anything to him.

"Class, settle down," Perby's voice echoed in the stone walls. Immediately, the sparse chatter died down. Everyone's attention turned to Perby. Glancing around the room, Remus noticed that most everybody's expression showed anxiety or anticipation. Severus was probably the only person in the room that looked completely disgusted. Remus bit his lip.

"I will hand out the assignment parchment along with expectations for every group. Do not even contemplate asking another student for help - the ink only shows to the assigned students' eyes and mine. What can be read from the parchment will not reach the hearer's ears. There will be no communication with anybody save your partner and me."

Remus' spirits sank lower, if that was even possible. So he wouldn't even be able to _talk _to anybody about it?

"Furthermore," Professor Perby continued, "If I hear any word of cheating on this project, immediate points will be deducted, if not all of them. The level of difficulty ranges in this class, from the most complex of potions (his eyes flickered over where Remus and Snape were sitting) to the simplest. I expect for each and every one of you to walk away with at least an Acceptable, understand?"

The class nodded monotonously. "Yes, Professor."

"Get to work, then." He flicked his wand.

At Perby's command, twenty-five rolled parchments rose from his desk and shot through the air, narrowly avoiding each other as they zoomed around and landed on the pupils' desks. Remus' zigzagged across the room and landed with a thump. He picked it up and unrolled the paper. It read:

****

Students: Remus Lupin and Severus Snape

****

Potion: Invisible Potion. One must drink its contents and remain completely invisible for at least thirty minutes without suffering any damaging side effects. Maximum limit will be two days.

****

Essay Requirements: At least six feet parchment's worth of abstract, hypothesis, step-by-step procedures, materials list, results, conclusions and use properties.

Under that, in Professor Perby's own neat handwriting:

__

This is, by far, the most difficult of the class' assignments. However, I expect you two to work well, as usual. You may, if you succeed, ask for permission from the Ministry of Magic to have your spell patented at the end of this year. Good luck.

After reading the scroll, Remus nervously stole a glance at Severus. The dark haired boy was staring at his own parchment with a frown and was chewing his lower lip. He felt Remus' eyes on him and immediately scowled.

"I'll make the potion; you write the essay," was the only thing he said. He did not try to hide the contempt he felt for the werewolf in his expression and tone of voice.

"No," Remus replied, already frustrated. "I'm not going to let you do all the work. We're making the potion together."

Snape's scowl deepened. "It'd be faster the other way," he said sourly.

"Is that all you care about? How quickly it'd be over?" Remus asked. "Don't you want a good grade? An essay with effort?"

Snape said nothing.

Looking at his partner, Remus wondered why Severus always frowned and sneered. The boy's face was practically carved in a scowl. Remus realized that he'd never seen Snape smile. He tried to imagine what Snape would look like with a normal expression, but couldn't picture it.

"Listen, Severus-" Remus began.

"Oh, so it's not Snivellus anymore?" Snape retorted.

Sirius, who was only a few seats away, turned around to see what was happening. Remus felt himself become hot.

__

'Cool down,' he told himself._ 'This is not the time to go stark raving mad. You can't change Snape, you just have to cope with him...just be patient...'_

"No, it was never Snivellus," Remus replied evenly, ignoring the desire to rip Snape's head off. Sirius snorted, disbelieving, and turned away.

"Well, tell that to your little biker friend," he muttered under his breath, punctuating every syllable with his black hatred.

"_Don't insult Sirius_," Remus said quietly, dangerously.

Once again, Snape said nothing. Instead, he exhaled impatiently and picked up his bag, disposing at least half a dozen large Potions books onto his desk. He handed some to Remus, who, surprised, almost dropped them.

"You came prepared," he said stupidly.

"Why do you think I was in the library?" Snape retorted sarcastically. "Now start looking up Invisibility Cloak's components and take good notes. I want this to start quickly and end quickly," he said at last in a threatening tone.

"Suit yourself," Remus remarked as he started flicking through the pages.

****

:::


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

One week later, Remus and Snape already had two feet of parchment crammed with Remus' neat cursive.

"Holy hell, Moony," Sirius had said, staring incredulously at the rolls of paper. "How in the name of Merlin did you do that? Peter and I haven't even started yet...shit..."

"Have you been stealing my Invisibility Cloak and meeting him every night?" James had teased.

"Wow, Moony, you're good. Really good," was what Peter had said, examining the scroll admiringly.

Lily was probably the only person who wasn't shocked at Remus and Severus' exceptional progress.

"Great job! You and Severus really are good partners for this," she had smiled. "Always the best in the class, eh?"

Remus felt proud of his and Severus' progress. They had gotten together to work at the library for a good hour or two each night. On weekends, they set up meetings and often could be seen still hunched over books well past the stroke of midnight. It was satisfactory, knowing that they were advancing smoothly.

Snape was, as he'd predicted, a good partner. He often did more than his share, always deriving different ways to try things out. He had a diverse way of thinking, one that made Remus wonder what exactly was behind that veil of long hair. He was still as cold as ever, but he didn't insult Remus or his friends anymore. They usually worked in silence.

One day, however, Remus brought along a radio with him.

"What is _that_?" Snape couldn't help asking as he stared at the strange device. As usual, his tone was sneering and prudent.

"It's a radio," Remus explained. "It plays songs the way Muggles listen to it. Professor Hilgard gave it to me. You know, that Muggle Studies teacher? I thought we could do with a bit of music."

"What does it run on?" Severus asked, skeptical.

"Batteries," Remus opened the battery latch on the bottom of the radio to let Severus see.

At first, Snape wrinkled his nose as Mozart's Konzert in G began. But soon, Remus noticed Severus tapping his foot and even occasionally humming the tunes beneath his breath. Most kids at their age liked the latest rock bands, but Remus and Severus were both satisfied with the sawing violins and the fluttering flutes. As long as Remus turned the music down to a certain degree, Madam Pince allowed them to listen in peace. And so every time they worked together, the radio was there, too.

****

:::

"I'm going to leave early tonight," was the first thing Remus said to Severus one night as they settled down to work.

"Why not?" Snape said, not looking up from his book.

Remus stared at him.

"I-I thought you knew," he said, now getting confused.

Severus looked up, realized his blunder, and grew slightly pink.

"Oh, right. That," he muttered.

"Yeah. That," said Remus. He turned on the radio and for the rest of the time, they worked accordingly to Bach.

Remus left at around ten that evening. It was partially cloudy, and he crossed the grounds to the Whomping Willow without making the transformation. He carefully pressed the tree knot and slipped inside, shuddering from the chilliness of the Shrieking Shack. He waited silently in the dark room, staring through the window...

When the clouds fully revealed the full bright moon, Remus felt the pain start.

Hundreds. No, thousands, millions - millions of daggers pierced his flesh, jabbing and spiking him, drawing blood. His muscles enlarged, ripping themselves free of his human form painfully. Remus' amber eyes blazed as suddenly, everything in the dark became clearer and he could see. His head began to grow larger, his nose narrowed into a narrow snout, his tailbone grew. He arched his neck, throwing his head back in agony as his spine lengthened.

"No, no!" he screamed, painfully aware that his voice was growing lower with each cry.

He felt his human body being pushed away easily by this beast. His spirit. His mind. Slowly, everything dimmed out...thoughts were nonexistent, and memories were but a hidden mote of dust in the darkest corner of his mind. This was what Remus hated the most, and with every second, animal instinct took over sense and sensibility. He was quite literally losing his mind.

Meanwhile, his head was still growing bigger, and now his teeth were expanding painfully. It lasted for only a few minutes, but they seemed like minutes of eternity every time. The transformation always gave him a horrible headache, and when it finished, an enraged wolf stood in Remus' place.

An enraged wolf, and a beautiful one, too. Remus was lean and handsome, his sleek body coated by a sheen of sheer silver fur. His eyes glowed furious gold, but this caged anger and hurt had to be released.

He gnarled, bit and scratched his torso, gashed at his muscular legs...anything to be rid of this pain! Remus' blood stained the ground. His paws left crimson prints.

He howled and he ground his teeth, he chased his tail in circles, he grabbed a rotting book in his jaws and shook it until all the pages were shredded into moldy scraps.

Then, seeing the leg of a nearby shabby armchair, the werewolf lunged, snarling and growling madly, and broke off the wood with a snap! He bared his fangs, ready to utterly destroy this 'victim'. Unaware that the wood splinters had dug into his soft paws and were prickled upon his muzzle, the bloody wolf lunged again-

And collided with something black and furry.

The wolf leapt back, growling heatedly, his eyes centered on a huge ebony dog with crystal blue eyes. Beside the dog stood a majestic stag and by it, a tiny dull grey mouse. Remus' weary mind spun...

__

"He's a friend! No, no he's not, he's stopping me from getting my prey...no...he's good...he helps me..."

After a few confused moments, Remus' instinctual desire for blood and flesh overcame his partial human sense and he leapt at the black dog, ready to sink his teeth into the warm blood, let it flow deliciously over his pristine teeth...

A sharp kick in the hindquarters sent Remus flying across the room. Prongs had kicked him. He got up, whimpering and even more enraged than ever. Remus attacked again, this time trying to get past the door. But he was stopped, over and over again.

The dog was barking madly, almost laughing, as he ran around Remus, making the wolf angry. He was hurting and furious and tired and he desperately wanted to taste blood, but none of that could be possible with these three burdensome barriers! In frustration, Remus gnashed his teeth, shooting golden daggers at this enemy. He wanted to get out of this rotting, horrible shack. He wanted to feel the wet grass beneath his paws, to howl at the moon, to be free!

But no, not tonight, he wouldn't run free tonight. The wolf recognized this in the way the black dog's eyes hardened and the way he growled menacingly. He could not pass these terrible animals, not with his bruised legs and his bleeding torso. In misery, Remus the wolf gave up his attempts at getting out and curled into a silvery ball, tucking his snout under his paws. He was tired...oh so tired...

Within minutes, Remus had fallen asleep. Looking at him from afar, he looked innocent and harmless. The gust in the room swayed his silver hair, and every few seconds he'd thump his thin tail on the ground. Ever so quietly, Sirius padded over to Remus. He saw the furious scratches, the deep bites. Gently, the shaggy canine began to lick the wolf's wounds clean.

And for the rest of the night, Sirius, James and Peter watched over their Remus.

****

:::

When he awoke the next morning, the first thing that hit Remus Lupin was a terrible pounding headache. He groaned, and tried to sit up, but a sharp pain near his stomach made him decide to just roll over instead.

Looking around, he realized that he was in his secure bed under warm blankets. His abdomen was bandaged with clean white cloth. There were dark bruises down his left arm, and many small bloody pricks on his hands.

__

'God, what have I done?' he thought to himself, slumping against the bedpost and closing his eyes. _'One of these days, I shall go raving mad and kill myself.'_

For the rest of the day, Remus stayed in bed. He dozed off sometimes, and worried about what he was missing in class, but for the most part studied his books. At lunchtime, when James came up to bring him some sandwiches, Remus downed the whole lot, but promptly threw up thirty minutes later. His stomach was still too weak.

He began to gradually feel better toward nightfall. The tiredness, the headache...they all faded with time. He felt fresh, new, and very relieved that the whole ordeal wouldn't be for another whole month. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was only 8:30. If he was lucky, Snape would be in the library. Remus took an ice-cold shower, washed the blood off his body, and dressed into a new set of robes.

On the way out of the bathroom, he cast a quick glance at the mirror and almost turned away in disgust. There he was, looking pathetic and sick as ever. Remus walked out of the dorm and down the stairs, trying to forget the way his sunken eyes had those dark circles under them...

"Remus!" he was suddenly engulfed by Sirius Black, who had pulled him into a breath squeezing hug.

"Good evening, Sirius," Remus smiled genuinely at his friend, glad to see him. "I was heading to the library," he answered Sirius' question before it was even asked.

"Look, I know Snape's dead sexy, but you can miss out on one night, right? Come on, Moony, you've been so busy. I'm surprised you haven't drowned under all those books."

"But there's still so much to-"

"Moony, you're twice as far as anybody else. Give it a rest. How does a trip to Hogsmeade sound? It's Friday night. We need a boys night out."

"Very tempting, Siri," Remus admitted. "You're right. I have to take my mind off the project."

"All right, then," Sirius flashed Remus one of his heart wrenching grins. "Go get the cloak and the map - it's under James' pillow. I'm going to find him. Probably out at the Quidditch field, with Peter licking his shoes. Meet you at the shack in fifteen."

And with a whirl of his cloak, Sirius sauntered across the common and out the portrait hole. At least half a dozen girls watched the handsome boy hungrily.

"Always the magnet," Remus smiled bemusedly as he turned to head back upstairs.

****

:::

Exactly a quarter hour later, Remus found himself again in the Shrieking Shack. It was dark in the shabby room, so he muttered "Lumos" and took a look around.

There were stains of blood on the ground, dents on the walls, pieces of broken metal, scraps of paper, and a horribly banged up chair in the corner. Everything in the room was tattered or chewed upon.

"I must've gone insane last night," Remus muttered to himself.

"Yeah, you pretty much lost it. More aggressive than usual," Remus turned around to see James leaning against the doorway, his hair damp from Quidditch. Behind him were Peter and Sirius.

"Got the map and cloak, Moony?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, right here," Remus answered.

"Let's go, then."

Quiet as the breeze that chilled their bones, the four boys crept upstairs, where most of the rooms were barren, paint peeling and rusting. They sneaked down the main hall and out the door, being careful to close the gate silently as soon as they left the Shrieking Shack's grounds.

"Where to first?" Sirius asked as they stepped onto the pavement and headed toward where the village shops' lights gleamed merrily.

"I'm running low on chocolate," Remus admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Alright, to Honeydukes it is!" Sirius ran ahead, his deep laughter trailing behind him.

Once in the candy shop, Remus immediately made a beeline for the chocolates, while Peter, James and Sirius tried the new sample Firecracker Snaps. A few minutes later, Remus had himself a bag of almost twenty large chocolate frogs, chocolate Galleon coins, which twirled brilliantly in his palm, chocolate gum, mint chocolate icicles that melted in your mouth and a few chocolate-flavored sugar quills.

"Remus, you're going to die from some serious chocolate overdose," was the first thing Sirius said as they walked out of the shop.

"I eat it sparingly," Remus argued. "I'm not like you - I don't immediately cram everything in my mouth and swallow the lot of it."

"Hey, it's faster," Sirius grinned. "Let's go to Zonko's."

Remus groaned. "That's a horrible shop, you know."

"It's the reason for which I live!" James cried out mockingly. "How would Snape ever suffer if we didn't have Zonko's?"

"You guys should give Severus a chance," Remus said quietly.

"Oh, so it's a first name basis now?" Sirius snarled jokingly, though Remus noted the slightly harsher tone he used and decided to drop the subject.

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks after. I haven't had Butterbeer in ages," he said.

"Yeah," Peter echoed.

At Zonko's, the four boys found themselves at the "Color and Odor Hairspray" section, where the cans sprayed crazy colors along with gross smells into the unfortunate victim's hair.

"Look at this one," Peter laughed. "It's skunk-flavored, and dyes hair black with white streaks."

"Lovely," Remus murmured, examining the 'Rotten Egg' aerosol (which turned hair a hideous shade of vomit green).

"You know, Sirius," James teased. "You really need some of this stuff. You pamper your hair twenty four seven...why not try a nice 'Gasoline' spray?"

"What color is it?" Sirius played along.

"Oily black."

"Hmm...nah. Don't want to copy our precious Severus."

Peter and James cracked up at this. Remus found himself a little irritated, but he forced a laugh also.

Thirty minutes later, after Sirius had traded some money for pranks, the four boys found themselves in the Three Broomsticks, each in front of a steaming glass of golden bubbly butterbeer.

"Mmmm...this is the good stuff," Sirius said, wiping his butterbeer mustache off with the back of his hand.

"I wonder how they make it," Peter said, peering curiously into his drink.

"Who cares?" Sirius snorted. "As long as it tastes like this, I'm not going to think any deeper."

"Then what do you think about, Sirius?" James interrupted.

Sirius pretended to contemplate this.

"Ways of setting Snape on fire, how I'll get enough money to buy a motorcycle, why James is pretending to be straight when he's obviously in love with me..."

James smacked the back of Sirius' head with his money pouch.

"You just knocked off his eight remaining brain cells," Remus grinned.

For the rest of the evening, they chatted over butterbeer, sometimes calling for another glass, often exploding into fits of roaring laughter. Finally, at two in the morning, they managed to stumble back into their dormitories (with the help of the cloak and map), even though Sirius had to chuck one of Remus' frogs down another hallway to distract Filch from walking right into them.

Remus was asleep before his head even hit the pillow that night.

****

:::


	4. Chapter Four

****

A/N: I'd like to take the time to deeply thank all those who have reviewed. Your words of encouragement really do brighten my day and get me excited about writing the next chapter. I am extremely grateful. I hope to hear more of what you like, what you don't, what you want to happen, etc. Feel free to point out errors (yes, they do exist, hehe) or offer suggestions, as I am listening with eager ears. Thanks again, and I hope you continue to enjoy my story.

Chapter Four

The weeks passed very quickly for Remus. He continued to work hard with Severus every night. They progressed rapidly. Remus had never worked this well with another person - he and Severus were very straightforward with each other.

"I'm going to Perby's to get some copper."

"I'll update the bibliography, then."

"Meet you back here?"

"Yeah."

Every task was self-assigned. Each student worked to his full capacity, making notes meticulous and recordings precise. Some nights, Remus and Severus never even exchanged any words out of sheer overload of work.

They would meet at the library every night at a fixed time, Remus would turn on the radio, and both would work through the hours. Often, other students walked past, wondering what those two boys hunched over books every evening were up to.

Then, one night, Severus uttered the words Remus had been longing to hear for weeks.

"I think we're finally ready to test this," the dark-haired boy announced doubtfully, frowning as he read over the necessary materials over and over again.

"Is every ingredient ready?" Remus asked eagerly.

"The newt blood isn't going to settle for at least another two weeks, but that only controls how long the invisibility lasts. We just need to see if the potion can make a person disappear, if only for a second," Severus replied curtly.

"Sounds alright, then. Where should we go to try it?"

Severus frowned. "Maybe some empty classroom?"

They gathered their quills and parchment. Severus had with him a few vials, the largest one containing a murky grey potion.

So they set off, walking silently. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the empty hallways. Most of the doors were locked to prevent any curious (or desperate) student from poking their nose in. Remus and Severus felt themselves getting uneasy-wasn't there any place in this whole school they could test a simple potion in?

Finally, when Remus' hand gripped a doorknob across the Barnabas the Barmy's tapestry, he found it unlocked. Pushing it open, he expected a deserted classroom filled with cobwebs and unused desks. But it was not so.

It was a perfect laboratory.

The room was like a friendlier version of the Potions dungeon. Across the long walls were hundreds of books on brewing Potions and spells of that sort. The room had a large table - quills, inkbottles and rolls of paper all ready. One wall was actually an entire mirror, which made the room seem larger than it actually was. But the most impressive part may have been the cabinets. They were everywhere. Cabinets, shelves, storage boxes, all labeled impeccably with ingredients beyond Remus and Severus' wildest dreams.

And now they had this wonderful room all to themselves.

"What is this place?" Remus breathed as he entered, Severus following doubtfully behind.

When Severus didn't answer, Remus turned around. The taller boy's eyes were scanning the room, and his lips pursed tight. He seemed to be trying to remember something.

His next words were barely audible.

"It's the Room of Requirement."

"The what?" Remus asked, puzzled.

"The Room of Requirement," Severus repeated, slowly walking around. He kept touching the shelves, feeling the fine oak, as if he couldn't believe the things at his slender fingertips. "I've read some myths about it - supposedly, there's a hidden room in Hogwarts that provides the seeker whatever he needs when it's urgent. And I think we've found it."

"Surely that cannot be," Remus shook his head. "It's probably just some headquarter for Perby."

Severus snorted. "I know, for a fact, that Perby sleeps in a room beside his classroom. That man is obsessed with the dungeons. He never leaves them."

"Well, Room of Requirement or not, we've got this perfect place to work at. It's getting late. We'd better try out the potion." Remus reasoned. "I'll be the guinea pig this time."

"You sure?" asked Severus.

"Yeah," he replied.

"You'll have to clear your mind and think of a throng of people. Take some time to concentrate. I need to add a few last minute things." And with that, Severus started to take out the bubbly potions, measuring spoonfuls and pouring each of them carefully into the smoky vial.

Remus started to concentrate on being part of a crowd. It wasn't too difficult - he never really stood out, so it was easy to imagine being amongst a group of people. He saw himself with his dull features, his medium height. He saw himself standing around a million students. They were all bustling, talking, and he was part of them.

"It's ready," Remus heard Severus say quietly a few minutes later. He felt Severus' cold hands on his for a moment, then the vial's glass neck around his fingers. And, closing his eyes and concentrating hard, he lifted the liquid to his lips and quickly emptied its contents down his throat. It tasted like nothing.

But its affect definitely wasn't nothing. Remus felt his body getting hot, hotter than he'd ever been. He began to sweat, the beads rolling down his forehead. He wanted to burst out of his skin, to be rid of this burning heat. But inside, his heart was being slowed. He was freezing. With every heartbeat, he shivered from the coldness. It surrounded his mind, enclosing it in a vast emptiness. His every body part seemed to be simulated and frozen at the same time. He had a crazy desire to dance, yet then to lie down and die. He wanted to sing, or tear out his own vocal cords. He had the urge to kill something warm, or to take a walk in the rain...

Remus snapped open his eyes.

There was Severus. His face had gone paper-white, and he was trembling. His dark eyes were confused.

"Severus?" Remus called. His voice sounded far away. Something wasn't right. Why did Severus' eyes enlarge like that? Why did that muscle twitch in his jaw?

Severus inhaled sharply, and took a step back.

Suddenly, Remus felt like he was falling slowly. He dropped lower and lower, until he landed on hard cement. It wasn't painful, but the impact of the crash suddenly brought him back to reality. He was on his back, sprawled across the carpeted ground, shaking his head furiously. The room spun...the books...the potions...Severus...

"Remus?" Severus asked. For the first time, he sounded frightened. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine...what happened?" Remus asked, getting up. When Severus wouldn't look into his eyes, Remus panicked.

"Did...something go wrong? Did it not work? I couldn't tell...what happened, Severus?"

"Nothing," Severus replied. "It worked well. You disappeared in less than three seconds, starting from your feet. But...I don't think you were right for testing it."

"Why not?" Remus demanded sharply. A horrible suspicion started to grow in his stomach.

"Because...because right before you disappeared, I saw you as a...a..."

"A wolf." Remus said flatly.

"Yes."

Remus sighed. "It happens every time I eat or drink something new. My...er...other side has to experience it, too. Almost died while eating chocolate, but my body grows immune to its poison as a human. I'd forgotten this side effect in my haste. You won't see it again, Severus."

"Oh," Severus said coolly. Back to his secretive, composed self. "What did it feel like?"

Remus started to try to describe the ecstasy, the numbness of his body. How outside, he burned, yet freezing internally. How he wanted to live and die. How his voice was nonexistent. A sudden idea struck him in the middle of a sentence, though.

"Severus, did you hear me say your name?"

The other boy shook his head.

"I called you, because I saw you once my eyes opened."

Severus suddenly looked interested.

"You mean I couldn't hear you nor see you?" he said, excited.

"Yeah," Remus replied, starting to grin. "It wore off when I spoke, but I could have gone on forever...there was no pain..."

"You know what this means?" Severus wondered aloud. Remus felt his spirits rise.

"It means," Remus said. "That not only have we completed the potion, we've gone a step farther. We could make a whole person disappear off the face of the earth. But we can also silence them...and I bet we can cut off feeling and scent...and find a potion or spell or something..."

Severus broke into a huge smile.

Remus was taken aback. This was the first time he'd practically seen even Severus' teeth. And Merlin, he looked so different! His dark, hating eyes suddenly brightened. Remus was surprised to see that they weren't the dull ebony he'd always believed - they were a marvelous deep blue! His face took on a fuller shape, revealing a strong jawline and surprisingly straight teeth. Even his oily hair seemed to lose some of its grease. Severus actually looked...good!

Remus realized that he was grinning broadly back. Their first attempt had gone so well...no injuries in sight...this was a load better than he'd hoped for!

The werewolf went to bed with a smile on his face that night.

****

:::

The nights that followed that evening were mutually consented to be spent in the Room of Requirement. Over and over, Severus and Remus tried the potion out. Sometimes, the results were satisfactory. But on most occasions, the potion did not achieve its desired affect and they had to start over and try to figure out if it was the Redcap tooth or Demiguise hair measurements that they'd miscalculated. It was extremely frustrating, re-making and testing the potion again and again.

A couple of times, due to an erring of ingredient, the potion's side effects were damaging, even harmful. For one thing, the tester always wound up on the ground when he recovered, which was inconvenient, because when the invisible person walked around and the potion wore off, they'd hit desks or shelves. For another, Severus had developed an allergic reaction to chameleon saliva, so he often broke out in fits of sneezes that would last for almost ten minutes, while Remus stood nearby, not knowing whether to laugh or worry.

Without realizing it, Remus grew closer to Severus everyday. He found that Severus wasn't a hating person at all - that is - if he was left alone. He discovered they both shared a deep interest in reading. One of the most shocking things about Severus was his vast knowledge from all those hours studying books. He could rattle off, from memory, the seven uses of dragon blood, or what temperature Puffapods could survive in, or even who founded the Russian Gringotts Bank.

Remus found this all completely fascinating. He had always known Severus was intelligent, but he soon realized that the Slytherin was so adept at the Dark Arts and Potionmaking that he probably could've taught the class better than Perby did.

Of course, there was still a fairly wide gap between Remus and Severus. They weren't exactly _friends, _but they were definitely more than just acquaintances.

Three weeks into the project, Remus had been walking to Transfiguration and in the halls he'd passed Severus, who was on his way to Arithmancy. Remus nervously managed to say a quick "Hi" to his partner, not really expecting a reply. But to his surprise, Severus had looked him in the eye and said "Hello" back. Remus took this as a good sign and for the rest of the day, he felt light of heart.

****

:::

Meanwhile, Remus became interested in a matter that dramatically changed his life. It all started one day when McGonagall told him quietly after class that Dumbledore wished to speak with him.

Remus wasn't exactly sure how to get to Dumbledore's office, but McGonagall was busy speaking with Frank Longbottom, so he asked James instead.

"Not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure somewhere around the hospital wing," James said. "It's down the hall and there's a gargoyle statue and you have to say a password or something."

Remus had to choice but to wander around the hospital wing halls until he saw a large stone gargoyle statue whose face was twisted in a rather grotesque expression. Confused, he walked around for a few minutes, trying in vain to find somebody who could help him.

He heard the sound of many footsteps and peered around a corner. There, walking toward him, was a bunch of Seventh Years - all Slytherins - Remus could tell by their grey and green scarves. He didn't know any of them except for Narcissa Black, who met his eyes as she passed by. Remus didn't think it was likely they knew the password (or would willingly tell him), so, feeling stupid, turned around and almost crashed into Professor McGonagall.

"Remus!" she exclaimed, dropping the textbook she was holding in surprise. Remus quickly picked it up for her, ignoring the sniggers from the Slytherins behind him.

"Professor, I don't know-"

"Oh, of course, my dear boy, in my haste I completely forgot to tell you," McGonagall smiled apologetically. "Sugar Quill," she said curtly to the gargoyle, and the wall opened. Remus found himself staring at a large staircase.

"Just go up these stairs and you'll find the office," Professor McGonagall said.

Remus looked back one more time. The wall was already closing, but he thought he saw a figure move in the shadows. He blinked. There was nobody there.

"You were hallucinating," he muttered to himself and ascended the stairs.

When Remus entered Albus Dumbledore's office, he found the Headmaster at a large desk, pouring over a long scroll of parchment and frowning deeply. His light blue eyes were focused intently.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Remus called nervously, not wanting to interrupt.

Dumbledore looked up and smiled genially.

"Hello, Remus. I'd wished to talk to you. Please take a seat." He gestured at an empty cushioned chair in front of him.

Remus sat down gingerly; wondering what in the world this was all about. He waited patiently for Dumbledore to finish reading his scroll and adjust his half-moon spectacles. The silence stretched until Dumbledore's words hit it rather suddenly.

"Remus...tell me, what are your plans for the future?"

Remus relaxed. This was probably some professor-student conference that happened with everybody.

"I don't really know, Professor," he answered truthfully.

Albus Dumbledore looked very interested. "And why ever not? You are one of the most gifted students I've seen in all my years. I was sorely disappointed when you did not accept my offering as Head Boy."

"I...it wouldn't have worked out well," Remus replied, looking away. Deep down, he knew that another year of seeing his friends cause havoc and trouble and not being able to stop them would've driven him mad. As prefect, he'd always been torn, not sure whether to tell Sirius off for hexing Snape or just stand there and watch. He usually did nothing and felt horrible afterwards. Better to hand the responsibility to someone else. Someone like James, who was secure and confident.

It seemed that Dumbledore sensed Remus wasn't speaking the whole truth, because he let a silence settle in the room. Remus hated to disappoint Dumbledore - he'd already illegally influenced three of his best friends to turn into Animagi right under the Headmaster's nose...and Dumbledore had just asked him a perfectly normal question, and all he could manage to mumble was an ungrateful "I don't know."

"Professor, I think I'd like to be an Auror. Or maybe even a teacher," Remus blurted out, desperately wanting to please his Headmaster. "I want to benefit the community...the people."

"Really?" Dumbledore raised a white eyebrow.

"Yes," Remus replied softly.

"That's very unusual, Remus," Dumbledore said him seriously, but his eyes twinkled merrily as he spoke. "Most people want to be Aurors because it's stereotypically a fun and exciting job. And I suppose it is, tracking down the enemies and doing justice where it needs to be done. Have you heard of the CIA, Remus?"

Remus, whose mother was Muggle, nodded.

"It's some Muggle agency. Spying and that sort of thing, I think."

"Yes, you are quite right. Being an Auror is not different than working for an agency like the CIA. Very dangerous, and very rewarding. It's what everybody dream of being. But at the end of the day, they find out that it's much more than chasing down the bad guys. It's about looking over your back, because Aurors make enemies with the wrong sort of people, you understand. It's about risking your life every minute, about hunting and being hunted. It's about being righteous. It's about having a criminal conscience, because nobody can go about jailing and killing without feeling guilt."

"I...I wouldn't mind," stammered Remus. "My conscience isn't exactly clean as of now, either."

Dumbledore smiled briefly before continuing.

"It's not an easy job. You might wind up in a ditch across the world, and nobody would know. It's frustrating. Being an Auror means to experience the rawest feelings of mankind. Love, hate, betrayal."

"I understand, Professor. I'd be willing to take the risks."

"The pay is not high, either."

"I'd do it for free."

"You'd probably die before you retire."

Remus hesitated.

"Would you be willing to die for people you've never met, Remus?" Dumbledore pried gently. "Do you have that kind of courage?"

"I...I don't know...I'd never really thought about it that seriously," the young wizard admitted, suddenly ashamed. "I didn't consider death to be part of the job. I can't bring myself to say that I'd willingly die, as selfish as it sounds."

"No, Remus, you are not being selfish in the least. I'm glad you're being honest with me," said Dumbledore. There was unmistakable kindness in his voice. "And especially as you're a Gryffindor. Most of us are so reckless and headstrong we don't take the time to think. We jump in the fire, defenseless to save the burning child without realizing that it's pouring rain overhead."

"Us, Professor?" Remus asked, curious.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, I also attended Hogwarts when I was young. I was sorted into Gryffindor and later taught Transfiguration as head of Gryffindor."

Remus marveled at this. He'd never thought about Dumbledore's childhood...Dumbledore had always just been there, mysterious and wise beyond comparison.

"But onto more important matters," the ancient wizard waved his hand, dismissing previous thoughts. "The words you've said to me were exactly what I'd hoped for. For you see, Remus, I know of an Order in which I thought you'd be interested in."

"An Order, Professor?"

"Yes, that's right. A secret Order, one that has to be kept unknown at all times. Because, you see, the Order fights against the absolute worst enemy of wizards."

"Who? Voldemort?" Remus asked, leaning forward.

Dumbledore seemed impressed. "Exactly. Voldemort's power has been rising steadily now. He has become more deadly and cruel than you could ever imagine. He has spies, spies everywhere. They lurk in all dark corners. There may be dozens right in this castle."

Remus was flabbergasted. "That's impossible! Surely not in Hogwarts!"

"Au contraire, my friend. Voldemort himself was a student here. I happened to have taught him. His name was Tom Riddle, and he, not unlike you, was an extremely bright young man. Unfortunately, however, his intelligence was used in the wrong way."

This news stunned the werewolf greatly. His mind started to digest it, but Dumbledore kept talking...Remus could barely keep up with the Headmaster.

"But aside from that, the main job of the Order is to find these spies. It's a long and difficult job, full of locked keys and whispered secrets. And so the majority of this Order is made of Aurors, hunting down Death Eaters. "

Death Eaters. Remus had heard of them, of course. Everyone knew they were the loyal servants of the Dark Lord, always cloaked and sly, but they were so mysterious that barely anything else was known about them.

"How can you recognize a Death Eater, Professor?" Remus blurted out.

Dumbledore waved his hand again. "You shall find out when the time comes. But I want to ask you, would you be interested in being part of this Order?"

"Yes!" Remus practically jumped out of his seat. This would be his chance to help out, to prove himself. To fight.

"I'm very happy to hear that, Remus," Dumbledore said. "You shall not be asked to perform any life-threatening tasks anytime soon. You will, however, be informed of all the contacts of the current Order shortly through post. Your training will begin this summer - yes, I believe your instructor will be Professor McGonagall-"

"Training?"

"Yes. You still have much to learn about Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will be taught by Professor McGonagall in the summer, and will attend the Oxford Wizarding Academy for the next four years in preparation for anything that comes along. Then, hopefully, you will be qualified as an Auror and begin to do some investigation."

Remus sat back in his chair, awed. Within ten minutes, he just found out what he'd be doing in the next four years of his life. Dumbledore continued to speak as if he were discussing the weather. Remus was amazed at his composure.

"I cannot stress how secretive this is - speak no word of this to anybody, ever. Not James, Sirius, nor Peter."

"I won't." Remus promised.

"Do you have any questions for me right now?" Dumbledore asked. "You'll come to learn a lot about the Order at our meetings and councils."

"Yes, Professor, uh, who is the head of this Order?"

"Me," Dumbledore grinned. "Is that such a shock to you, Remus?"

"You? I mean, no, of course not, Professor. And um...how many members are in the Order?"

"The number changes frequently, but an approximate forty or so, as of today."

"But...Professor, do you really think I'm worthy of th-"

"You've proven to me over the years to be a responsible and sharp young man, Remus. You are the first Hogwarts student ever to even be considered to become part of the Order. I take confidence in you completely." The way Dumbledore spoke with such pride and confidence made Remus want to cringe. Instead, he smiled wanly.

The dinner bell chimed, breaking the conversation.

"Thank you, Professor," Remus rose to leave. "I cannot express my gratitude to you enough. You've just given me a job, a future, a life to look forward to."

"No, thank you, Remus," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I think you should know just one more thing before you exit."

"What, Professor?" Remus asked curiously, turning around.

"We're called the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily.


	5. Chapter Five

****

A/N: Sorry this took so long to post. I spent about two weeks completing and editing chapter seven, then read it over, and realized it was a piece of junk. So all its 3,302 words are deleted and I now have nothing but a blank page. I figured I'd at least put chapter five up...not that anyone really cares. Urgh.

Chapter Five

Remus awoke one Saturday morning to a very special surprise outside. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but there, yes, it was snowing! Thick, heavy snowflakes littered from heaven's grey clouds, clinging like cotton to the sill of the dorm windows. Looking around the room, he saw that James, Sirius, Peter and Frank were still all sound asleep. His attention turned to the fire had been kindled in the fireplace, and the crackling flames filled him with a sense of simple joy and security. He loved moments like these, when he was completely alone yet warm and safe.

Winter had been Remus' favorite season for as long as he could remember back. He loved the snow, he loved the hot chocolate, and most of all, he loved the spirit of the upcoming holidays. Though most people delighted in blossoming roses in the spring, Remus always felt a twinge of sadness, knowing that glorious winter would not be for another nine months. So the first snowfall was always an especially pleasant event for Remus.

Recently, though, it seemed to Remus like every time he winked, another day flew by. His days were filled with nothing but schoolwork. The teachers were forcing essays upon essays. Even Remus, who could usually finish his homework by six in the evening, had to pull a few all-nighters. James Potter was in a frenzy, often seen trying to memorize spells by muttering incantations while looping around 100 feet off the ground, squinting for the golden Snitch. Poor Peter was suffering from the work overload and had shrunk to a miserable state of being, always panicking or staring wildly at some textbook. Even Sirius didn't spend half an hour on his hair in the morning anymore - those precious minutes were used for practicing his Charms spells.

But today, today was going to be a perfect day for Remus. He'd miraculously managed to complete the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Arithmancy and Transfiguration homework last night, and there was nothing burdening him anymore. He had a whole free day.

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'And what better way to start than to settle in a good book?' He smiled to himself as he brushed his shaggy hair aside and picked up the novel on his nightstand. The room became quiet save for the popping of the fire's flames and the occasional turn of pages.

****

:::

At breakfast, Remus indulged himself in a large mug of hazelnut-flavored hot chocolate. He inhaled the sweet aroma, wrapping his slender fingers around the cup, feeling its warmth spread to his body.

Sirius, who wasn't a morning person in the least, was grumbling under his breath.

"It's snowing like hell froze over and I have to finish those goddamn assignments all day...ugh...honestly, Remus, don't you think it's too early for chocolate? You're getting high off that stuff."

"I certainly am not. And it's never too early for chocolate, Padfoot," Remus grinned. "It's like those Dr. Seuss books, Green Eggs and Ham...only with chocolate. I can have it any day, any place."

"Dr. Seuss?" James snickered at the unusual name.

"Don't tell me you guys didn't read Dr. Seuss when you were young," Remus looked around at his friends in mock disbelief.

"Nope. Too busy pounding Regulus' face to read," Sirius yawned, accidentally dumping half a bottle of ketchup on his eggs.

Remus clucked his tongue in disapproval and sipped some more hot chocolate.

"Ahem," a soft, deep voice made Remus jump. He turned around, but Sirius was faster.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Padfoot sneered venomously. Remus groaned. Sirius saved that tone of voice for one person alone...

Severus Snape's pale, stony face contorted angrily. "I have a right to be wherever I want without being interrogated," he spat back just as nastily.

"Our bacon has enough grease without _you_ being here," James shot to defend Sirius.

Severus' eyes were flashing dangerously, his fingers white from clutching his wand so tightly. The whole Gryffindor table had gone quiet. All eyes were glued upon the little quartet - Remus, Severus, Sirius and James. Remus was at a loss of what to do. Obviously, Severus was here to talk to him. He groaned again. Couldn't Severus have picked a better time, when Remus _wasn't_ surrounded by James and Sirius?

Lily's sharp voice pierced the tight silence.

"James, Sirius, honestly, just leave him alone! Why do you have to be so hung up about this all the time?" she demanded angrily. "We're all 17, for goodness sakes. You act like a bunch of uncivil idiots."

"There's nothing civilized about Snivellus," James roared. He stood up suddenly, causing a few cups to spill over. "He doesn't even know what the word shampoo means, even though it's been around for a century."

Sirius laughed loudly, derisively. Remus felt himself getting hot with anger. His fingers were shaking slightly.

"_Excuse me_," Remus said rather loudly, setting down his mug. This silenced everybody again - Remus Lupin never, ever raised his voice. Everyone's eyes were suddenly fixed on him.

"I think Severus and I should have this conversation in private." Remus stood up calmly, gathered his bag, and walked briskly away from the breakfast table. Severus trailed him, his footsteps ringing behind loudly. Behind them, Remus could feel hundreds of eyes on their backs. He felt himself flushing carmine.

Suddenly, a flash of light, a single cry followed by a huge roar and the stopping of Severus' footsteps made Remus whip around. His heart immediately sank to his stomach. There was Sirius, his long wand raised and still pointed at Severus, who was suspended five feet in midair and writhing like mad, forced to do some sick dance. The Gryffindor table was stentorian with laughter.

"_Serpensortia!_" Severus roared from above, legs still in motion. From his wand shot a bright green light - it landed at Sirius' feet and coiled into a fanged emerald cobra, teeth bared and ready to strike. Frank Longbottom stared at the snake and promptly fainted onto Peter's lap.

The snake hissed dangerously, its eyes fixed on Sirius, whose face had turned paper-white. It began to slither rapidly toward Sirius.

"Whoa," Remus heard James mutter. "Sirius, don't-"

But Sirius' wand was already raised, his eyes set on Severus. He had an untamable expression on his face.

"No!" Remus yelled, but it was too late.

"_Stupify!_" Sirius roared, to the horror of everybody. When aimed correctly, the stunning spell could stop the victim's heart. Sirius had never had the audacity to try a spell as serious as this. A few people gasped and turned their eyes.

Luckily, Remus' reflexes were quick.

"_Expelliarmus!_" he yelled just a fraction of a second later.

What happened next was extremely odd. Sirius' jet-blue stunning streak, which had been directly at Severus' chest, clashed midway with Severus' wand and bounced off onto the green snake, which immediately coiled itself and faded away in a faint orange cloud. Severus and Sirius' wands then promptly flew to Remus, who caught both of them in his left hand. Immediately, Severus crashed down onto the ground floor. Remus rushed over to help him up.

A round of applause suddenly reached Remus' ears - he realized the whole table was cheering for him!

But the whistling and clapping stopped as suddenly as it had come. All eyes were on Remus. Or, rather, on whom was behind him.

"Mr. Lupin, is there anything you'd like to explain to me?" McGonagall's shrill voice sent shivers down Remus' spine. Before he even fully turned around, two voices clashed clumsily in the silence.

"Professor, it wasn't his fault," Sirius and Severus said simultaneously. Remus looked at both of them in disbelief.

There was Sirius - beautiful, insane Sirius, whom Remus had known and loved for seven years now. He was panting, out of breath - a strand of that black hair hung in his eyes, which were focused intently on McGonagall - Sirius wasn't going to let Remus take the blame for anything, he was too protective. Remus could almost hear him growling under his breath...

But perhaps Sirius would have to fight a battle, for Severus looked just as stubborn. He was glaring dangerously from under that veil of dark hair, still brushing the dust off his robes. His gaunt face, pallid skin and stormy eyes made him frightening to look upon.

Remus shivered involuntarily. Severus and Sirius were not good people to come across when they were both angry. At each other.

"The three of you, follow me," was all McGonagall said before turning around sharply. Silently, Remus followed her out of the hallway, still clutching all three wands. Severus and Sirius trailed along, both careful stay distant from each other. Murmuring broke out behind them from the tables. Within seconds, the whole of Hogwarts would know what had happened.

The quartet walked in silence down the stony corridors. With every step, Remus felt the pit in his stomach sink lower. Severus and Sirius weren't the best of friends, but they'd never hexed each other like that...Sirius' stunning curse could've led to expulsion! If Sirius was expelled from Hogwarts, Remus knew that he would be unbearably miserable. What would Dumbledore say when he found out? Remus knew McGonagall was part of the Order, but she probably didn't know yet of his joining - would he be kicked out for getting in trouble with her? Would he lose his job? Would he be assigned another instructor?

They entered McGonagall's office.

"Sit," she ordered.

They sat in the front row - Remus between Severus and Sirius.

"Explain."

Stony silence.

"Well? Shall I dock a hundred points from each House to ease the silence?" McGonagall glared.

"Professor, I-"

"He tried to-"

"It's his fault-"

"Silence!" McGonagall hissed angrily. "Obviously, I can't even have three 17-year olds in the same room without all of them shouting at once! Remus, I want you to explain what happened."

So Remus told the whole event truthfully from an unbiased point of view. McGonagall's frown deepened with every sentence. She inhaled sharply when Remus admitted that Sirius had tried to stun Severus. By the end, Remus was almost down to a whisper. He had the desire to gulp some of his invisible potion and sneak away.

There was a long and suffering silence.

"So," McGonagall finally broke the tension, drumming her long crimson fingernails on her wooden desk. Remus did not like the tone she used for that word. "_So_. Mr. Snape and Mr. Black just thought they could have the right to hex one another, right in front of First years. In front of family and friends. Curses that could've been _deadly_. That could have hurt _other_ students. Merlin's beard, what were you two _THINKING_?"

Sirius muttered something incomprehensible under his breath. Severus remained deathly silent, arms crossed.

McGonagall glared at both of them. A few moments later, as she saw that neither student was going to speak any more, she sniffed impatiently.

"Who knows how far this would've continued to? Serious injury? Expulsion? Death? _Well_. I have never seen such inappropriate behavior in my life, boys, and you two ought to feel real ashamed for what you did. One hundred points from Slytherin. I would take one hundred from Gryffindor, for your stupidity, Mr. Black, but I feel that your friend Remus has earned half of that back. Fifty points off Gryffindor."

"Thank you, Professor," Remus said softly.

"Sirius Black, wipe that devilish smile off your face, your punishment is not over yet. Both you and Severus Snape will be receiving detention for two weeks."

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'That's not so bad,' Remus thought to himself.

"With who, ma'am?" Sirius asked. His face looked half-hopeful, half-fearful. Severus was still impassive and silent in his chair.

McGonagall smiled sweetly. Posionously.

"I think Argus Filch could use some help lately with the toilet scrubbing, don't you?"

Remus would never forget the look on Sirius' face at her words.

****

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After a quick lunch full of people asking him what'd happened in McGonagall's office, Remus decided to give himself some alone time. At first, he thought of going to the library, but then decided against it - there were going to be too many people studying, too many distractions for him to have a nice and quiet time.

So he headed outside instead. Garbed in a warm coat, baggy jeans and a pair of sturdy (but worn-in) boots, he stepped out to the fields. It was still snowing furiously, and the flakes were accumulating. Remus strolled past the gamekeeper's cabin, ducked just in time when Dirk Thomas threw a snowball at him, and stopped to watch ice-skaters glide gracefully across the frozen lake.

It felt so good to be outside, to have the cold nipping at his fingers, to feel the snowflakes melt like chocolate upon his tongue. Remus had almost forgotten the crunch of snow beneath his feet, the way the sky looked like a never-ending grey sheet above his head.

He strolled along an empty pathway, bearing close to the Hogwarts castle. He certainly did not expect to meet anybody in such a desolate place. But when he rounded a corner, there was a slender figure robed in black, leaning against the castle wall. Her white-gold hair almost blended in with the snow.

It was Narcissa Black. Sirius' cousin, the infamous lover of Lucius Malfoy, who'd graduated just last year. Maybe the most feared and powerful 7th year in the Slytherin House. Narcissa had a reputation of belittling whomever she crossed upon - she could break hearts and snap consciences without a blink of her mascara-coated lashes. At the moment, she was bent over, inspecting her flawlessly colored fingernails.

Remus suddenly wished he'd never decided to come outside. To him, meeting Narcissa was as pleasant as turning into a werewolf. She was probably the female epitome of a Slytherin - cunning, beautiful and rich beyond all dreams. Definitely not tolerant of somebody like him, somebody dressed in shabby robes and in dire need of a haircut. But he couldn't turn away, not now.

Remus was sensible and knew when to back out of things, but he wasn't a coward either. And he was definitely not about to be rude to a girl. He forced himself to keep walking.

"Good day, Narcissa," he said politely upon passing where she was standing. She didn't look up from her nail examining.

Taking a closer look, Remus' breath was swept away by her beauty. Narcissa was stunning as she was cruel. She had Sirius' eyes - the infinite blue, the white and green specks - that could charm even Filch into infatuation. She had a finely structured face - delicate cheekbones, thin seducing lips, perfectly arched eyebrows. Her tall and slender figure was adorned by an immaculate black peacoat, stylish business pants and carefully polished leather boots. A diamond necklace sparkled glamorously from around her elegant neck. A gift from Lucius, Remus assumed.

Remus had almost reached a bend in the road when her chilly voice stopped him on his tracks.

"Your Order won't undo Voldemort," her words stilled the air.

He stopped and turned around slowly, trying to silence the pounding in his heart.

"What did you say?" he asked, his voice as calm as the falling snow.

"Your little Order. Dumbledore's secret weapon." Narcissa laughed thinly. Her voice was like frozen little drops of ice that fell upon Remus. "You think a bunch of Mudbloods and rejects of wizardry are going to stop the Dark Wizard? You think your little group can save the world?"

"I know nothing of what you speak of," Remus insisted, turning to go again.

"Of course," Narcissa smiled, revealing a set of pearl-white teeth. Her eyes were alight, mocking him. "Of course you'd deny it, you Gryffindors are so damned noble. But it's no use trying to trick a Slytherin, as we're the masters of deception ourselves. You're afraid, and you have a good to be. Your Order shall fall, and Voldemort will arise. You shall flee before him like cowards, and he will punish those that oppose him. Through death."

"You lie," Remus said between clenched teeth. "Voldemort's slaughtering of innocent wizards will get him nowhere. And even if he does rise, what shall he do? Play chess with his Death Eaters after taking over the world?"

Narcissa sneered, twisting her delicate features into a gruesome, ugly expression. Remus was reminded of Severus. Another beautiful face wrenched into ugliness through malevolence.

"Your friends, they're all doomed," she said suddenly, out of topic change. "Every last one, especially that fat boy."

"One of my friends happens to be your cousin," Remus retorted, furious.

"Sirius?" Her tone grew extremely chilly, her eyes hardened. "I know of no cousin by that name."

"First off, I never mentioned a name. And second, now that you bring it up, that's very unfortunate, Narcissa," Remus said. "Sirius might be the only member of your family with enough sense to stay away from Voldemort."

"Don't insult the Black family!" Narcissa spat furiously. Her pale cheeks flushed in her anger. Remus had hit her weak spot, and they both knew it. "Sirius is a _disgrace_, he's a bastard, along with all of you! You're a pile of scum, you know that! Look at your clothes, your hair, you can't even afford gloves, and you dare talk about the greatest wizarding lineage in history? You're nothing but a filthy, ratty piece of shit not worth being stepped upon. How _dare_ you greet me as if you have the right to do so? How _dare_ you come close to me? Get out of my sight, you _filthy snarling monster_!"

She turned on her heel and stormed toward the Hogwarts castle, her cloak whipping behind madly.

"Hey, Narcissa," Remus called out, not even bothering to conceal his grin. "You don't know the half of it."

****

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	6. Chapter Six

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A/N: The long awaited Chapter 6...is here! I really had a difficult time with this bit of the story, but it's pretty crucial, so please give me any feedback! Thank you for being patient.

Chapter Six

Christmas Eve of the year 1977 fell on a Friday. Most students opted to go home to their families. The few who remained were gone to Hogsmeade for a merry time with friends.

Severus Snape, however, had ducked out of both options. The foremost - he had no family to go home to. The latter - he had no business in Hogsmeade. He didn't have anything to buy, or anybody to enjoy an evening at The Three Broomsticks with. After dinner by himself (he took his meal in the common), Severus decided to end the day with some light reading and go to sleep early. Christmas was always rather dreary for Severus, as he was always alone. And in the morning, no presents ever appeared on his bed.

Not that he wanted any, he told himself on the way up the stairs.

But when he reached his chamber, he found his first ever Christmas present lying on his bed. It was small and rather heavy, wrapped neatly in decorative paper. He picked it up gingerly, suspicious. Then, deciding that it wasn't some trick of Sirius', he slowly and carefully undid the wrapping. A journal fell into his hands.

He examined it cautiously. It was seemingly quite new, with blank pages and neat leather binding. He looked for a note, but found nothing at all. Thumbing briefly through the pages, he found nothing but crisp white sheets.

Severus put the journal aside on his nightstand. He didn't have the patience or the time for writing in the blasted thing - journals were reserved for lovesick third years. Picking up his library book, he began to read about the history of famous Greek wizards.

Yet every few seconds, Severus found his thoughts straying to the mysterious journal, his eyes occasionally sneaking glances at it. He couldn't focus on the text...his mind was fixed upon the mysterious journal.

Ridiculous as it was, it seemed almost as if the journal _wanted_ Severus to write in it. It _wanted _to be picked up again, to opened and examined.

Severus couldn't stop wondering about it. Who'd sent it? His parents were dead, and he really didn't think anybody would bother to give him a present, and even if it was from one if his few friends, why a _journal_? It wasn't like Severus was a great writer or loved to document everything...

"Goddamn it," he muttered angrily and slammed his book shut. He got up and grabbed the leather journal and a quill. Turning to the first empty page, he began to write the date.

'Friday, December 24, 1977'

To his great shock, his words faded into the pages itself...and were replaced by different ones. The spidery handwriting appeared instantly from nowhere. Severus blinked hard, staring at the sheet of paper in disbelief, which now read:

__

Christmas Eve. So I assume this would be a present?

Severus wondered if he should continue. He didn't like the sound of a replying journal, as he had never encountered nor read about one. Yet how could harmful could words be? He could just close the damned journal anytime he desired. He decided to pry a little more.

'Yes, it is. But who are you?'

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My name is Tom Riddle. I used to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And you are?

Severus hesitated a moment, but he found himself wanting to give his name and identity. He wanted to talk to this Tom Riddle, he needed companionship.

'Severus Snape. Seventh Year here at Hogwarts.'

__

Ah, how fortunate. I am finally meeting you. I have heard quite a bit about you, Severus.

'You have?' Severus scribbled, intrigued.

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Yes. The cleverest Slytherin. The most powerful 7th year of your time. Adept at the Dark Arts, master of Potions. Clearly, you aren't one to reckon with.

'How do you know all this?'

__

Your family is well-known among the Slytherins.

'What do you know of my family?'

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That your bloodline is one of the purest and darkest of ancient wizardry, even older than that of the Malfoys. That your father was found dead a few years back, but the cause was never published.

Severus leaned forward, his eyes glued upon the journal.

'How did you know about my father?' he demanded.

__

It was in the Daily Prophet, February of 1970. Can you tell me what exactly happened?

'I've never told anybody before, and I don't trust magical journals.'

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Suit yourself.

Severus chewed absent-mindedly on the end of his quill, racking his mind for something to say.

'So what exactly are you? Are you alive today, or is this a preserved journal of your past?'

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I am very much alive at this moment.

'Where are you?'

__

I cannot say.

'How old are you?'

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Not very, but intellectually far beyond my years.

'Were you a Slytherin at Hogwarts?'

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Yes, one of the best in my year. Not so much unlike you. Say, is Albus Dumbledore Headmaster now?

'Yes, why?'

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Just wondering. He hated me, and I him. Always kept an eye on me, singled me out.

'What for?'

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No idea. But that's all rubbish from the past. I am now stronger and wiser than that old fool.

Severus frowned deeply.

'There is only one other wizard whose powers can come even remotely close to Dumbledore's. And you are not him.'

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Voldemort, you mean.

Severus was impressed; he'd never met anybody who could really say (or rather, write) the forbidden name outloud.

'Yes.'

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But you don't know who I am, what if I was, indeed, Voldemort?

'Your name is Tom Riddle.'

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That's what I went by twenty years ago.

Severus froze, his quill poised in midair. A sick feeling started to creep in his stomach, and he suddenly grew cold. He became aware of how alone he was, how vulnerable to anything dangerous. His left forearm suddenly felt numb.

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Severus? the black letters appeared. _If I frightened you, I apologize. I am certainly not Voldemort._

'You did not frighten me in the least,' Severus wrote back angrily. How could he have been so paranoid and stupid? Of course he wasn't talking to Voldemort. Even the dumbest wizard could've figured that out.

__

You want to tell me what happened to your father?

'Why are you so interested?'

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Wouldn't you be?

Severus thought about this.

'I suppose there's no harm in telling you. It's rather lengthy.'

__

There is no such thing as time in memory.

Severus shuddered slightly, though the room wasn't cold at all. Then, choosing his words carefully, he began to tell his past to somebody for the first time in his life.

'When I was young, my father was violent to both my mother and me. He would come home drunk almost every night. He often beat my mother.'

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Did he hit you?

'Yes, but not as much. Most of the time, I was locked in a closet, listening to nothing but the screams of my mother and my own pounding heartbeat. My mother was a decent woman, but her mother had been a Muggle. My father always detested that, he believed in purebloods and ancient traditional wizarding families. He thought she was defiling the lineage.'

__

Where did you live at the time?

'Southern Britain, in a desolate and dark mansion. We were quite wealthy, but money never brought me happiness. I was an only child, so I spent my time reading books, especially those of the Dark Arts. The older I grew up, the farther my parents became. They slept in separate bedrooms, ignored each other at meals. It wasn't a happy picture.'

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What happened to them?

'My mother finally got fed up and left my father. She never said goodbye to me, just left one day and never came back. I have not heard from her in eight years. One year later, at the age of ten, I came home to find my father on the ground. He was not breathing, eyes wide open, his wand a few inches away from his outstretched fingers. Dead.'

__

What was the cause?

'The killing curse. He finally got tired of life and committed suicide.'

__

What happened to you?

'I spent the rest of that year with various family members and old family friends, though I never stayed in one place for long. Then, the Hogwarts letter came. Dumbledore arranged for me to stay with the Malfoys during the summers until last year, when I turned 16 and the Snape inheritance was bequeathed to me.'

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Malfoy, you say?

'Yes. I befriended Lucius Malfoy. We still keep in contact.'

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A fine family, the Malfoy's.

'Do you happen to know them personally?'

__

As a matter of fact, I do. And now, it's time for me to meet you_, Severus._

Suddenly, a splitting pain filled Severus' head. A distant roar exploded in his ears, like the sound of a nearing train magnified a thousand times. His forearm felt like it was being prickled by a thousand jabbing needles. The pain was overwhelming, burning his skin, ripping his flesh....

He screamed, a guttural cry that echoed about in the empty room. The journal dropped from his hands, hitting the ground with a thud. The boy fell upon his bed, clutching his left forearm with his other hand. A thousand images seemed to be flickering through his mind every second...his deceased his father lying on the floor...Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes...a burning village...a pearl-like sphere...

Severus felt like his head was going to explode - something was cramming its way into his mind, and he couldn't drive it back...he continued to scream and writhe in his pain.

__

Severus... a soft hiss broke the roaring. _You fool...your weakness was much easier to discover than I'd anticipated..._

"_WHO ARE YOU?_" Severus screamed.

A high, cold laugh that seemed to chill the very marrow in his bones rang loudly in his head.

"Who do you _think_ I am, Severus?"

Severus inhaled sharply - the voice was not inside his head anymore. He snapped open his eyes. Through his tears, he could make out a tall, cloaked figure towering above him. Beneath the hood was the face of a man, no older than thirty. Yet his dazzling green eyes had the wisdom of a powerful wizard. He extended an arm to Severus.

Delirious and blinded by his pain, Severus feebly raised his hand. Ice cold fingers suddenly wrapped themselves around Severus' forearm. They were too tight, they were cutting off feeling in his fingers...he thought he was really going to pass out when an incalculable strength pulled him to his feet, where he swayed dangerously, struggling to keep his eyes open. He dreaded the words that were to come.

__

"I am Lord Voldemort."

Another wrenching flash of pain seared through Severus' arm. It seemed to be moving, tearing apart his skin in a delicate pattern. To his horror, as he looked down, black ink was spreading across his skin.

"What filthy bastard sent you to me?" Severus demanded between clenched teeth, trying not to show his agony.

Voldemort smirked.

"My servants do not know each other by name, Severus. And you are no exception. Yet you'd be surprised to know that although weak and rather stupid, he is also a student at Hogwarts, 7th year. A damned Gryffindor."

"Not Peter Pettigrew," Severus muttered under his breath. "He can't..."

"And why not?" Voldemort was clearly having a good time, amused by Severus' pain. "The bane of our existence is greed, Severus. We all want power, we all crave for it. Everyone serves the Dark Lord."

"_Join me._" Cold fingers tipped his chin up. Sharp green eyes bore into Severus', a low whisper hissed seductively in his ears. "Join me, rise to power with me. I need your skill, your superior talents. I want you, Severus, as one of my own. You shall serve the greatest and darkest wizard that has ever lived. You will become powerful, more powerful than you could ever imagine. Others will tremble and fall at your feet. Get the revenge you've always craved. Join me. Come with me."

The fingers tightened on his arm. Severus tried to inhale, but everything was spinning and bleeding. He could only see those eyes, hear the whisper, feel the icy fingers.

"No," he gasped, sweat breaking from his forehead, tears streaming down his face. He felt cold, alone in the dark, and impossibly small as he stood beside this figure whose very presence overwhelmed him to a point of unconsciousness...

"Do you really mean that?" a sneer mocked him. "I can give you everything you want, anything your heart desires. I have more power than you could ever imagine. You would _never be alone_ again."

Those words hit Severus like a cold slap. He glared up at Voldemort.

"I prefer being alone," he whispered defiantly.

Voldemort's penetrating eyes grew colder, if that was even possible.

"Very well, then," he said. From his robes, he pulled out his long, ebony wand. Severus watched him helplessly, his heart pounding, his blood cold.

"_Crucio,_" Voldemort grinned as he whispered the curse.

Severus' fingers froze in midair. His wrist turned sharply and his hand flew toward his throat. Bloody fingers tightened around his neck. He tried to pull away, he tried to fight it, but there was no ounce of strength left in his arm. He felt his throat tighten, the blood draining out of his face. He was choking himself to death.

Voldemort was laughing delightedly.

"You want to die like your father, Severus? You want to kill yourself?" he pushed his wand forward, and Severus' fingers dug into his own flesh even harder.

"No, no," Severus managed to choke out. His vision blurred again, but this time not from tears. He felt faint, light. He needed oxygen, and quickly.

"Then _join me_." Voldemort's words were final, resolute. He lowered his wand, though not completely disarming himself. Severus' fingers loosened. He fell back, coughing violently. When the rattling waves of pain dulled, he slowly raised his head.

__

Join me...join me...the words rang in Severus' mind over and over.

__

You would never be alone again...you shall be feared by all...

All his life, Severus had led a life of miserable abandon. He'd never felt like he belonged anywhere. He'd never served any purpose, believing nothing was worth the effort. Over the past seven years, he'd built a bitter façade that misled people to believe he had no emotion save hatred. They were _wrong_, all those people who feared him and shied from him without even speaking one word to him.

Deep down, Severus was no different from the other students. He wanted affection and care. He wanted a loving mother, he wanted a true companion to talk and laugh with, he wanted to play Quidditch in the summer with his father. He envied the way people chatted with their friends at the dinner table, while he could only watch from the dank, desolate corners of his bench.

But Severus whole-heartedly knew would never receive that kind of respect. He was forever doomed to step in shadows, to form his words with malice. Nothing but a black-hearted devil. He would be remembered by many only as the silent and cruel Slytherin.

He didn't want to be silent anymore. If he were to be hated, he would be hated to the fullest extent.

Slowly, Severus looked straight into Voldemort's eye and nodded.

And as suddenly as it had come, Voldemort was gone. Simply vanished out of thin air, as if he'd drank the invisible potion. Severus lay there upon the ground, clinging on to the bedpost. He no longer felt pain, only immense exhaustion. Remembering the ripping pain in his forearm, he lifted his arm and rolled up the sleeve of his robe.

There was an ugly black symbol of a skull with a snake writhing in its mouth. Severus closed his eyes slowly. He could barely believe it. Just that quickly. He was branded as a servant of Voldemort. He'd lost hope, lost faith. He was set to ruin lives, to murder.

__

To murder. The words hit him sharply and he opened his eyes again.

All his memories flooded back to him. Being alone in a locked, dark room, his father's fist hitting his mother, the day he'd gotten the Hogwarts letter, the terror of James and Sirius, Voldemort's grin…

Severus' thoughts wheeled to Remus Lupin. Thinking of Remus' delicate smile, of his impeccable cursive, of how Remus never treated him wrongly...

It dawned on Severus that instead of being treated wrongly by another, it was _him_ who had been cruel to Remus. Even from the beginning, he'd never given Remus a chance...just because he was friends with James and Sirius...

But somehow, the Gryffindor had wriggled his way into Severus' heart. Somehow, Severus ached deep inside, knowing that he was now on opposite sides with Remus.

It was inevitably clear. Severus knew that he would have to end their fragile friendship, and soon.

He touched his face and found that it was wet with tears.

****

:::


	7. Chapter Seven

A/N: I've done some major revising of chapters 1-6. This includes fixing awkward sentences, fine-combing through the details (re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban made me realize how many dumb mistakes I'd made) and even adding in a few scenes to better accommodate the upcoming storyline. Oh, and I also discovered a little thing called HTML, hehe (notice the **bold**, _italics_ and underlines - I've been finding every excuse to add them in). I'd recommend re-reading the pervious chapters, but it's not absolutely essential or anything.

Enjoy this chapter - it's very long. I'm on vacation to China and Japan for a month, so there won't be updates for a while. Much love!

Edit -- wouldn't let me upload this before vacation, so sorry for the long wait!

Chapter Seven

The Marauders decided to reserve their last Christmas at Hogwarts to be spent together. Each boy cleared his entire vacation schedule, so they were able to pass an enjoyable and rather messy last Christmas Eve.

Dinner that night was taken in the common, with some help of the ticklish pear and James' invisibility cloak. Sirius had been put in charge of this, and Remus was more than a bit apprehensive as he entered the common. Cooking was not one of Sirius' greatest attributes. For one thing, he had a knack for accidentally setting fire to anything he touched that involved cuisine. For another, he only had two food groups - black coffee and ketchup.

But Remus, James and Peter were pleasantly surprised Christmas Eve. Sirius had magicked half a dozen coffee tables into the room, and they were (literally) groaning under the weight of dish after dish. An enormous golden-brown turkey, mounds of fluffy mashed potato, bowls of chunky chicken pasta soup, shrimp cocktail, creamy clam chowder, a large assortment of green salads, a pot of steaming spaghetti, fresh sliced fruit plates, loaves of banana nut bread, thick panfuls of lasagna, cheese fondue, garlic bread...Remus even thought he'd spotted a huge steamed lobster...and those were only the entrees and main courses. There was a delicious-looking fudge cake, soft chocolate chip cookies, an enormous blueberry pie and a few cartons of rich creamy ice cream for dessert. Not surprisingly, drinks consisted of two dozen bottles of butterbeer and about twenty mugs of coffee.

"Sirius, wow, you-" Peter started, upon seeing the array of food.

Sirius grinned boyishly. "It was nothing. Those crazy elves were actually pushing food in my pockets. They make enough to feed the entire school, but nobody stays over the holidays, so they have to get rid of it somehow. I'm a hero among them now."

Remus had a vision of Sirius being carried three feet off the ground by a hundred little elves.

Their topic of conversation over dinner was future careers.

"I'm going to be an Auror and kick some serious ass," Sirius declared proudly, tossing his turkey bone onto his plate. "That is, if I don't flunk Potions this semester. What about you, Moony?"

"Being an Auror would be pretty cool," Remus said, smiling shyly. "I was thinking of teaching here at Hogwarts, too, maybe when I get older."

"Yeah, you'd be really good at that," Peter agreed. "I should know," he added hastily.

"I'd like to play for England on the Quidditch team. They need a new Seeker, anyway - Nitcum's getting too old for the job," James said between spoonfuls of mashed potato. "That, and become an Auror."

"What about Lily? Do you two have any plans in the future?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, we talk about it occasionally. I think she wants to be a Charms teacher, which is cool. I mean, we're pretty serious," James said.

"Do you plan on proposing anytime soon?" Remus asked, though he really didn't expect an immediate answer.

"Yeah, last day before school lets out," James replied casually.

Sirius choked on his butterbeer. James had to pound him on the back a few times to stop his coughing.

"You're joking, right?" Sirius asked, wiping off his mouth.

"Sirius, I've been obsessively mad about Lily since I've had hormones. Did you really think I'd wind up with somebody else?" James raised an eyebrow.

"He's got a point, Padfoot," Remus said, grinning.

Sirius turned slightly red.

"Well, yeah, of course I knew you were going to marry Lily. But it kind of comes as a shock anyway," he huffed.

"What about you, Peter?" Remus turned to his friend. "Got any ideas?"

"Um...I really don't know," Peter said quietly. "I'm not that good at anything."

"Sure you are," Remus encouraged.

"Like what?"

Remus racked his brains frantically, trying to find something Peter could do that wasn't too pathetic.

"Er, you're not bad at Herbology," Remus answered.

"And you're pretty well-rounded," James offered.

That seemed to satisfy Peter, because he returned to his lasagna. Remus shot James a grateful look.

The truth was, Peter seemed to be acting even stranger and quieter than usual. Ever since the beginning of the school year, he had been unusually jumpy. He started at the slightest sound or touch. He went to bed relatively early and should've gotten sufficient sleep, but in the morning there were dark circles under his watery eyes, as if he couldn't shut his eyes at night. During the day, he rarely talked and ate noticeably less, which was unusual. Remus had discussed this many times with James and Sirius, but nobody could come up with a plausible explanation to Peter's erratic behavior.

The conversation had picked up again. Remus gave himself a mental slap. He hated himself drifting off - it was a most inconvenient habit.

"You think your parents are messed up?" Sirius was saying. "Get this. When I was seven, my whole family went to visit some distant relatives for a week during wintertime. And I had this fish...don't ask me why, I just did. I was kind of protective of it, because I'd never had any other pets. And so the whole damn trip I was thinking about my fish and was worrying about it being alone in the mansion. When I came back, it was in its bowl and I thought, 'Alright, it's fine.' But after I took another look, I realized it wasn't moving. And so I looked closer, and I realized the whole damned fishbowl was frozen. The water, the fish, everything! Turns out my parents had left the heater off and everything just kind of froze over."

"I cried for a week," Sirius continued, biting down his laughter. "And Regulus teased me about it twenty four seven, that little bastard. My mum flushed it down the toilet, and I refused to go into that bathroom for weeks. I had this fear that the fish would defrost, swim up and stick itself up my ass in revenge."

At the last statement, all four boys broke out in laughter.

"I've always wondered why you were so strange, Sirius," James said, absent mindedly wiping his grease-covered fingers on the armchair he was seated in. "But I never guessed it was because you had a fish lodged in your behind."

"Shut it, Prongs," a flushing Sirius grinned. "Or you'll have something up yours in a second..."

He held up an oily turkey wing and smiled coyly.

"I don't like where this is going," Remus muttered, but smiled despite himself.

James responded immediately. In one swift motion, he grabbed a spoonful of creamy mashed potato and tilted the utensil back, ready to fling-

"Don't you da-" Sirius began-

SPLAT.

The buttery, chunky mound of potato landed true. For a still second, the lumpy splotch was plastered on Sirius' eyebrow. Then the mass started to slowly drop down his cheek.

Silence filled the room. Sirius was completely still, a bewildered look upon his face. James was trying to look scared, but his shoulders were shaking and tears of silent laughter were forming in his eyes.

With a spontaneous roar, Sirius jumped up and started to fling his food at his three best friends.

Remus ducked, laughing uncontrollably. But it was to no avail - applesauce, fondue cheese, lasagna...Sirius' aim was pretty good and Remus was pelted in less than a minute. He fell off his seat and took cover behind the armchair. James was leaning forward and trying to get a handful of pie from the table, but he was temporarily blinded by a loaf of bread that hit his face. Peter had joined in and was hurling spaghetti at Sirius - it was strewn across his shoulders and hair.

They were making a terrible, terrible mess. Already some soup had tilted over and was staining the carpet, and chocolate ice cream was somehow smeared across the fireplace mantle. Everyone's robes were turning interesting splotches of color. But it was Christmas Eve, their last Marauder Christmas together. A food fight was very appropriate for seventeen-year-old boys.

Remus grinned, picked up a gravy-covered handful of mashed potato and joined in the fun.

:::

A good hour later, when cramps were settling in stomachs and adrenaline was entirely washed out, the Marauders looked proudly upon their creation.

They had painted the Gryffindor common with food.

Literally.

The curtains were covered in gravy, the tables were almost invisible under the load of spilt food, the floor sticky with butterbeer. The walls were randomly splattered with an assortment of things - fondue, ketchup, ice cream, even a few strings of noodles limply from the ceiling chandelier. Smeared across the ground were remains of the gooey chocolate cake. Sometime during the food fight, Peter had stood up on the armchairs. However, the bottom of his shoes hadn't exactly been clean, and chocolate-frosting footprints ran all over the fabric. There were even some cookies in the burning fire, which were now sizzling and filling the room with a rich aroma.

"Wow," James breathed. "It's so beautiful."

"Our best creation yet," Peter said happily. "This, and the Map."

"Wonder what McGonagall would say if she saw this," James grinned.

"She's probably tear out all her hair, then violently abuse us, and then have a heart attack," Sirius replied nonchalantly.

"Well, let's not wait to find out," Remus took out his wand. He uttered a simple cleaning spell, and the stains and messes disappeared. Instantly, the room looked just as it had before. The now empty plates were stacked neatly in the corner of a table.

Looking at each other, however, Remus realized that they, too, were absolutely filthy. Sirius looked like some sort of demented scarecrow, with thick strands of noodles in his hair and food splattered all over his robes. The top half of Peter's face was blue - Sirius had tried to throw the entire blueberry pie into his face and Peter had ducked a little too late. James looked like he had some major dandruff issues, as cheesecake crumbs were nested into his hair and shoulders.

Remus himself may have been the cleanest of the four. He had no major 'injuries' on his skin - most of the food had hit his clothes and that could be washed out in a wink. Nonetheless, everybody quickly agreed to shower, change clothing and meet back in a while.

Twenty minutes later, Remus re-entered the common, to find it empty and refreshingly clean. Figuring everyone just took longer time grooming than he did, he sat down by the fire, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the perfect still silence and sweet chocolate aroma of burning cookies.

He could hardly believe it - this was his seventh, his final year at Hogwarts. It seemed like only yesterday that he had timidly asked James if he could take a seat on the Hogwarts Express. After June, he'd be professionally training for the Order, he'd be an adult of the wizarding world.

"Moony?" Sirius' voice broke the silence. "Some help here?

Remus opened his eyes and turned around. Sirius was balancing a tray full of hot chocolate mugs on one hand and holding a bowl of roasted chestnuts with the other. Immediately, Remus got up and took the bowl, setting it down on a coffee table.

"Thanks, mate," Sirius said gratefully after putting down the tray. "You had no idea what it was like walking up stairs that spontaneously decided to move with these."

Remus laughed. "Wish I could have seen you."

"Yeah," Sirius sighed, flopping down onto a chair.

"You look exhausted," Remus commented dryly.

"Well, partly because of that fight, partly because of the food, and mostly because of scrubbing toilets earlier today," Sirius replied.

"I thought your detention was over," Remus frowned.

"It was, until Filch discovered I'd hexed the sponges to scrub by themselves."

Remus bit his lip thoughtfully.

"Sirius, maybe you and Severus-"

"Stop, Moony," Sirius interrupted. "I'm doing a good job tolerating you two, but there's no way he and I-"

"I'm not asking for that," Remus retorted back. "It's just that you and James shouldn't lose your tempers so easily around him. He's not a bad person, Padfoot. He's not any worse than me."

Sirius looked at Remus incredulously. With the fire lighting his face, Remus looked completely innocent. His large honey eyes were perfectly focused, his amber hair damp and a bit tousled. Sirius could even smell the faint, pleasant scent of Remus' cologne.

He then thought of Severus, his nasty glare, his spitting words. The cruel glint in his eyes.

Sirius sighed and shook his head.

"Remus, you're out of your mind," he picked up a chestnut and cracked the shell, revealing its rich gold meat beneath.

"No, I'm not. It's your mind that's got problems. It's too narrow," Remus said evenly. "You've tortured Severus since First Year. You can't expect him to love you back."

"I've been through this with James already," Sirius said, not looking at Remus.

"I know. And you lost your temper there, too."

"I'm _not_ losing my temper with you!" Sirius exclaimed angrily. Remus raised an eyebrow.

Sirius sighed heavily.

"I'm really not," he said much quieter, turning to face Remus. "I don't think I could ever lose my temper with you."

This time, Remus couldn't think of anything to say back. He knew that Sirius wasn't joking.

Sirius was silent for a moment, lost in thought, before he turned to Remus.

"Moony...are you..._friends_ with him?" he asked, almost fearful of the reply.

Remus hesitated before speaking.

"I honestly don't know. He and I have very much in common, but I'm not sure I could ever get close to him. Severus is...well, he's an exclusive person. I think he could manage both with and without my companionship. Does that answer your question?"

Sirius frowned deeply, still not wanting to drop the subject.

"I suppose he's a fabulous partner?" he then said, rather sarcastically.

"Well, yes, he is," Remus admitted. "He's very competent."

"A genius?"

"Yes, he's exceptionally intelligent-"

"Never slacks off?"

"Never."

Sirius sighed loudly and ran his fingers through his fine black hair, as if exhausted by their conversation.

"Sirius, are you jealous of him?" Remus pried gently. He was greeted by a moment's silence.

"Well," Sirius spoke slowly, choosing his words with precision. "Not in many aspects. Not socially, not physically, of course not. But you've been spending a lot of time with him, Moony. I know it sounds selfish, but it seems like he's wrenching you away from me. It seems like you like him...well, more than me. I know I acted stupidly that other morning. I'm not proud of it."

"I don't like Severus better than you, Sirius," Remus immediately said, and he knew from the bottom of his heart that his words were true. "Even you're bright enough to figure that out. Just don't explode whenever you see him, alright? I'm not asking you to marry him, just stay out of his way. I'm aware of the fact that you guys aren't great friends, but the least I can ask of you is to avoid him and if you get upset with him, to me. Will you do that, Sirius?"

"Well, why doesn't he stay out of _my _way?" Sirius said indignantly.

"Sirius," Remus said quietly. "He does. He tries to."

Sirius' face was fell still. He looked like a statue, a frozen figure of time. His slender cheek was propped by a fist, his head tilted slightly. His penetrating eyes were lowered, unmoving.

"Alright," Sirius finally said. "I'll stay out of his way. For you."

Remus leaned over and put a hand on Sirius' shoulder, clasping it firmly.

"Thank you," Remus said.

"Oy, am I interrupting anything here?" Sirius and Remus looked up. James had entered the common, his hair still dripping, a towel slung casually around his neck.

"No, we were just talking," Sirius said. Remus was silent.

"Where's Peter?" James questioned.

"Right here," Peter immediately said as he walked through the doorway, wiping his face. "Sorry, the blueberries weren't that easy to scrub off."

Sirius grinned rather maliciously.

"What took you so long, Prongs?" Sirius asked. "It's not like you have to look good for Moony and me."

"You wish, Siri," James said, picking up a mug of hot chocolate. "I couldn't find a pair of clean socks, for your information."

"Eh, whatever. You guys want to open presents?" Sirius suggested.

"It's traditional to open them Christmas day, Sirius," Remus said.

"To hell with tradition. Let's do it," James said. He took out his wand from his pocket. "Accio presents!"

A couple dozen wrapped presents soared out of their dormitories, a few of them accidentally hitting James' head as they landed on the couches and floor in a heap.

"Prongs, you're 17 and you _still_ can't perform the summoning charm right," Sirius remarked as he started to gather his presents together. "I'm sure you're going to make an excellent Auror one day, mate."

Remus had given Sirius a pair of thick black dragonskin gloves ("they're for when you zoom around on your future motorcycle"), James a miniature glass model of his broomstick, and for Peter, Remus had bought a Remembrall.

"Remus, wow, thanks! These are bloody awesome," Sirius said as he eagerly slid his hands into the gloves. James and Peter had liked their presents very much also, even though as soon as Peter touched his, the Remembrall immediately lit up because he had forgotten to turn off the water taps in the bathrooms.

In return, Remus received a very beautiful phoenix feather quill from Peter and The History of Magical Chocolates form James, both of which he liked incredibly much. But his personal favorite present had been from Sirius.

"Here, it's nothing much," Sirius had muttered, handing him a small box, which was very carefully wrapped. Remus had undid the wrapping and opened the box eagerly. Lying upon tissue paper was a gleaming white tooth, sharply jagged at the tip, with a small hole at the top.

"The idea's for you to um...you know, put it on a string or something and wear it around your neck," Sirius had said, rather embarrassed. "That is, if you want to. I mean, you don't have to, I just thought it was kinda neat and uh...maybe you'd like it but if you don't then I can uh, always exchange it and get something diff-"

"Sirius, is this a werewolf tooth?" Remus had interrupted Sirius' rant.

"Well, uh, yeah."

"These are supposed to be rare - it's really nice, Sirius. Of course I'll wear it. Thanks a lot."

Sirius had smiled despite himself, glad that his present was appreciated.

:::

Finally, after a few rounds of exploding crackers and wizard chess (Remus creamed them all), the boys decided to go to bed. It had been a long and spontaneous night, one that Remus had enjoyed immensely. He was dead tired as he staggered up the staircase, looking forward to the comfort of his pillow.

But before he got into bed, Remus carefully threaded some string through Sirius' gift and tied it around his neck. He drifted off into a light and pleasant sleep, fingers wrapped around the werewolf tooth.

:::


End file.
